Saskatchewan has a housing problem. Vacancy rates throughout the province are extremely low, and with an increase in population, the problem is not going away any time soon.
The provincial government recently announced that a comprehensive housing strategy will be unveiled June of this year, and that consultations will be held with stakeholders across the province in the development of the plan.
Consultations will include a three-day housing summit, to be held April 19-21 in Saskatoon.
The housing situation in Yorkton is one of the areas which will need to be addressed by the upcoming plan. Tom Seeley has been concerned with the housing situation in the city for some time, and recently spoke about some of the areas which will need to be looked at in this area.
A lack of rental accommodation is the most pressing concern in the city, both for businesses and for people looking for places to live.
"I'm a director on the Chamber of Commerce and we hear this from businesses large and small, that there is an issue with rental accommodation and there are issues with the affordability of rental accommodation for people on modest income," Seeley notes.
The lack of rental units makes it more difficult for businesses to recruit employees from out of town and for a city to grow, Seeley says. He also says that it could prevent businesses from expanding to the city, as they find it difficult to find a place for employees to live.
The rental problem is also an issue for those with lower incomes, who are finding it increasingly difficult to find a place to live which they can afford. Seeley says since Yorkton is in the middle of something of a "boom time," the price of units in the area is beginning to get too high for some families.
"The more affluent a community gets, the higher rental prices go up, and the more difficult it is for those on more modest incomes," Seeley notes.
The announcement of the planning of a housing strategy is something which Seeley sees as an encouraging sign, and necessary to help deal with the situation. He says that there needs to be action by the provincial and federal governments to stimulate rental housing to put more money into programs for affordable housing.
"It's clear that virtually no rental accommodation has been built in 30 years, and we can't go on like that, we have to have governments create the environment whereby more rental accommodation can be built," he adds.
He also says that stakeholders from across the public and private sector need to get together and brainstorm how to encourage more rental units in the short term.
While some argue that rent control is a solution for the affordability of housing, Seeley argues that the best form of rent control is adequate supply of housing.
"If you've got the right balance between the supply and demand of housing, you don't have to worry about these kinds of controls," Seeley says.
With the development of the housing strategy for the province currently under way, the issue of encouraging rental development will be one of the main issues that will need to be addressed in the upcoming plan.
